The scientist and leading atheist faces a barrage of criticism after posting comments on Twitter about the Muslim teenager

Richard Dawkins has sparked a wave of criticism after appearing to draw a tenuous link between Ahmed Mohamed, the Texas Muslim teenager whose homemade clock was mistaken for a bomb, and a child forced by Islamic State militants to behead his victim.

Dawkins tweeted a link to an International Business Times report on a video posted to YouTube that appears to show a child of about ten being forced by Isis fighters to decapitate a Syrian regime army officer early on Wednesday morning.

“‘But he’s only a kid.’ Yes, a ‘kid’ old enough to sue for $15 million those whom he hoaxed,” tweeted Dawkins.

Then after a paragraph break, as though the question had occurred to him just before he went to click “Tweet” – “And how old is this ‘kid’?”

Dawkins was referring to Mohamed’s family’s demanding $15 milion in damages — $10 million from the city of Irving, and $5 million from the school district — and an apology after the 14-year-old was arrested in September, when his homemade clock was taken for a bomb.